Eusebius of Caesarea Fragments on Luke Part 2

Translated by Alex Poulos (http://mapoulos.wordpress.com).

Notice how he [Simeon] already says that the coming salvation will be for the nations. This coming of his, he tells us, is what the nations hope for.

A light for revelation to the nations (Luke 2:32)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; for this he has anointed me. (Luke 4:18)

The Savior, when beginning the beatitudes, announced heavenly wealth and the kingdom of Heaven to the poor, but Isaiah the Prophet anticipated these things and mentioned them. He spoke prophetically about what was to come, as if from the person of the Savior himself, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, and for this he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good news to the poor (Is. 61:1). Thus Isaiah openly revealed the gospel of blessed things to the poor; so Jesus too, who had been anointed by the Holy Spirit as a human, made this known to mankind, and then began his teaching by announcing for himself the good news of the heavenly kingdom to the poor.

They came to hear him and be healed of their diseases. (Luke 6:18)

Look now at this present passage, how again they begin to come to the Saviors voice, and receive teachings from him as if they carried the force of law,1 through which one may attain the heavenly kingdom. The crowd does not simply stick to learning, but also presses him for miracles2 lest anyone be excluded from the promises that the kingdom of God comes not in word, but in power (1 Cor. 4:20).

Grk. ... . The phrase, though a bit vague, seems to indicate that the audience received Jesus teaching not simply as religious teaching, but as decrees from someone with royal authority. 2 Grk. . Press someone for something is not a documented meaning of , and more literally one might translate advance through [miraculous] deeds. Given the context of the passage, the more idiomatic translation seems justified, as those listening to Jesus all strive to touch him in order to be healed (see Lk 6:19).

Blessed are the poor, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 6:20)3

While the kingdom of heaven may be divided into many different ranks of good men,4 just as it says, there are many rooms at my Father's house, (Jn 14:2) the chief group, 5 one might say, and the highest level of spiritual ascension belongs to those who are poor for God's sake. And if these, who endure poverty with perfect moderation and restraint, should despise all the honors of the present life and press on to the peak of poverty on account of divine philosophy, they will attain to this beatitude of the Savior. Thus he made his first disciples into people like this. This harmonizes with what he said in their presence in another of the gospels, blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God (Lk 6:20). That he says, yours makes it clear that this was spoken to those present. He lifted his eyes to them, and before the teaching began, he bid them to listen with a gracious look.6 They, in turn, willingly offered themselves obedient to his words. This was the first of the Savior's beatitudes, namely that he would appoint as joint-rulers those who embraced poverty for his sake: the humble in spirit. These are the ones who took up the life that is defined by its great poverty, and by its philosophic and God-pleasing character. The second, third, and fourth beatitudes are enumerated in turn by him. [536] He taught us to go forth into each of these areas of life and strive to be considered worthy of the promises. Thus it is possible for those in the kingdom of God, even if they do not rule jointly with Christ like the poor in spirit, to be nevertheless comforted about the things for which, having sinned unto death, they mourn, and to give themselves to repentance, confession, and a moderate life. Likewise, it is possible for them to attain the promised land, and become inhabitants and citizens of the city of God that is above, by showing themselves meek and long-suffering. Again, it is possible for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness in this life to attain it, and to be filled in accordance with the promised age, for if they should enjoy the pure and genuine essence of virtue, then they will see the very manifestation of God's righteousness, the wisdom of God itself, life eternal, and the illumination of souls, all which were conceived in accordance with their inherent powers by the Word of God. And so if some others become merciful and loving, showing compassion and generosity to their neighbors, then these ones who have shown mercy will experience the same things that they have done, and will be shown mercy according to the mercy and loving-kindness of God. Let there be another rank of saints according to this promise, The editors of the Greek text that appears in the Patrologia Graeca note here that Eusebius appears to be working primarily from Matthews text, and citing Luke for support, rather than the other way around. This is surmised from the discussion within, which seems to be based primarily on Matthews beatitudes. The corresponding passage in Luke is mentioned at several points, but only to clarify or contrast the Matthean passage. 4 More literally, may be perceived [to exist] in different groups of good [men] (Grk. ). Based on what follows, the idiomatic translation is justified. Eusebius is basically saying, Though there are many different ranks of good men in the kingdom of God, the most important are the poor. 5 More literally, the highest step of those ascending. 6 This sentence is a bit awkward, but is essentially a paraphrase of Lk 6:20a, which reads, Having raised his eyes to his disciples he said
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namely the rank of those who are have purified their hearts (which is to say, their intellects), and another for the peace-makers. The former will receive the privilege of purity, which is seeing God, inasmuch as they will see him with the purified eyes of the soul. The latter group will become sons of God, once they have achieved a similar work, the sort that the Son of God did by making peace for all things through himself, both things in heaven and on earth. And so these, on the basis of different moral achievements, will attain different honors in the kingdom of Heaven that he has announced. For the first group will indeed rule with the Son of God himself, having shown themselves to be poor in spirit. The second group after these are the noble martyrs of God, of whom he taught after this saying, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake (Mt 5:10). Through these words he blessed those who were to contend for the kingdom as noble soldiers of God, promising them necessarily, as brothers to the blessed poor, the prizes of those who compete for the heavenly kingdom. He was giving shares of his kingdom to these who came after the poor in spirit with great care. For the first group, it was necessary first to live all of ones life having spent the time in a most impoverished and philosophic manner, if one wished to come to this most God-pleasing end. For this first group practiced the most impoverished way of life in their training, and for their entire lives they competed in the contests of virtue. [537] As for the second group, they were beaten on account of their witness to Christ, hated, made into enemies, and attacked viciously with false slanders for no reason other than their confession of Christ. Thus in Luke we see those who hunger, thirst, and are scorned for Christ sake, but Matthew places them in order for us after the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers. And he said these things to arm and fortify his disciples for the war against their enemies, which they were soon to endure when then they began preaching to the entire world, and testifying to the kingdom of the one God who rules all. He fortified and warned them in advance that they would soon be beaten and made into enemies by all because of the new message, and so he reckoned them worthy of the beatitudes. Because the life they exhibited was above reproach, though their enemies were hunting for excuses against them, they offered no pretext for slander; nevertheless they were about to be pursued as enemies, simply because of their confession of Christ and his proclamation. They would suffer many slanders and bear many abuses, insolent actions, and rebukes, not for any actual sin, but because of their most virtuous and righteous life. Indeed, this message, which was spoken in accordance with divine foreknowledge, did attain its true purpose and was fulfilled. He does, however, provide for the difficulty of his message, by revealing to them that they are equal in honor to Gods prophets of old. Thus he encourages them to give thanks and rejoice in everything that was to come, on the grounds that whenever they should suffer like the prophets had, they would also be given similar honors before God, for all to see. Paul thus suitably says to encourage them, if indeed we suffer with him, so too will we be glorified with him (Rom 8:17), and the present sufferings are not worthy of being compared to the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom 8:18). He did not just say these things with words while withholding the corresponding deeds, but rather displayed in such matters the same sufferings for godliness that he had enumerated, saying Therefore I take pleasure in my weaknesses, in insults, etc. (2 Cor. 12:10). Moreover, these were only the beginning of his sufferings; the end of his great struggle was fulfilled in Rome, where he was

beheaded for his witness. Peter reckoned death by crucifixion a great prize because of his hope for salvation. James likewise was beheaded by the sword in Jerusalem, and John was condemned to live on the island of Patmos. Each of the rest in their own way bore a different death, displaying the purity and the firmness of their obedience to his words. They did not suffer these things against their will, for they reckoned the hope in the promises of salvations as sweeter than any pleasure. And so once, when the leaders of the Jewish nation arrested them and had them subjected to the torments of the whip, as the history about them testifies, they went forth from the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been deemed worthy of being dishonored for the sake of Christ (Acts 5:41). [540] This they did, fulfilling his precept, for had taught them to rejoice when suffering for him. He showed them as equal in honor to the prophets, saying according to Matthew, thus they persecuted those before you (Mt 5:12). He said this on the grounds that, just as things had been for the prophets, so in a short time they would be made equal because of their similar suffering. Of the prophets, one was run through with the sword, another was stoned, one was thrown to the lions, another was thrown in a well of mud, and another was cut in two by a saw, and some were burned in a fiery furnace; therefore the Savior exhorted them with the example of these distinguished men so that, during their endurance of terrible hardship, they might remember what the prophets had suffered, and thus, through this comparison, imagine the same hopes for themselves. Thus he says, When they falsely accuse you, rejoice, since the prophets bore the same thing. 7

Though presented like a direct quotation, this seems to be a paraphrase of the previous discussion, for Eusebius is not quoting from any biblical source.